There is an oft-repeated saying that to perform at your best, you have to “Get Your Head in the Game” and for Maurice Ashleythis couldn’t be truer.
As the first African-American chess grandmaster and now a highly successful author, Ashley tells M&F that chess has not only improved his mind, but has also done wonders for his body. Here’s why you should consider taking advantage.
“Chess teaches you that your mindset is everything,” explains Ashley, who won the Grandmaster title in 1990 for his outstanding performance in the game. “The quality of your thinking determines who you are and what you will be willing to do to succeed. Chess also humbles you because it is impossible to learn just a few secrets and think you will be a good player. It takes years of patience, focus, resilience and above all, consistency. Just like training, you don’t jump from one level to another just because you want to. You have to take it one step at a time, make incremental gains and embrace the plateau when you don’t see immediate visible results. We all know these truths, but it’s easy to get distracted in a world that’s constantly showing you shortcuts and tricks. Your strongest muscle is your mind, so you need to make mental training part of your regular routine.”
According to a research, chess players live about 8 years longer on average than the general population. And elite chess players live up to 14 years longer. But even more surprising is the fact that this superior longevity is also seen when we compare chess players to Olympians.
Maurice Ashley is able to use his opponents energy against them
“Everyone has their own way of training for focus,” says Ashley, who spreads the important message of chess in a beginner’s guide titled The life-changing magic of chess and a book of life lessons on and off the chessboard called Move with movement.
“For me, the martial art of Aikido trained me to still my mind and use my opponent’s energy against them. Nowadays, I don’t play as much chess, but I still train like I do. I like to ride a bike or lift weights without music so I’m more attuned to the sounds of the experience. I want to feel the wind whistling in my ears when I’m riding a horse or hear the pounding of weights around me at the gym. It’s like listening to music when you dance. Full immersion makes me more focused. Anything that adds that mental edge will make you more ready than the competition when it comes time to play.”
Whether you’re a successful athlete looking for that last piece, or someone who needs to get back on your fitness journey, crushing a sedentary lifestyle is a battle even chess grandmasters understand. Hours spent sitting, pondering every move, may seem taxing on the body, but chess actually requires mental and physical endurance. Ashley managed to work both his body and mind in synergy to stay fit.
“I come from a family of athletes,” says Grandmaster, who was born in St. Andrew, Jamaica and now lives in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. “My dad was a dancer, my brothers were martial artists and my sister ended up being a world champion boxer. I played a lot of different sports for fun as a kid, but started hitting the gym in my 20s as a consistent way to stay in shape. I knew about the importance of fitness and endurance for chess excellence, but honestly I did it mostly because I loved it. I could have been a gymnast in another life.”
Maurice Ashley wants you to enter the life-changing world of chess
“Studying chess in my youth at home in Brownsville, Brooklyn, every night was like traveling through time and space into a world where epic battles between legendary grandmasters would unfold before my teenage eyes,” says Ashley. “I was poring over chess books trying to crack a code that few people around me could even imagine existed. While most of my friends hoped to be famous athletes and musicians, I dreamed of traveling the world playing in exciting chess tournaments. Now, looking back, it’s incredible that I got to live a life even beyond my own dreams. The game of chess literally changed the trajectory of who I would become, and it could for you too.”
Maurice Ashley’s two new books are The life-changing magic of chess and Move by Move both are available for pre-order now.
